The Social Network Theory
by MelyBelle44
Summary: AU Two people, from very different worlds, find romance unexpectedly. How will The Big Bang Theory fit in to their story? Do they love it? Do they hate it? Set in a future TBBT Season, likely Season 12.
1. The Comforts of Home

Marina Foster zipped from screen to screen. Minimize here, maximize there. Typing. Clicking. File, print. Stuff the envelope. Stamp it. Her work routine was almost melodic.

If anyone was born to have an office job, it was Marina. As a woman who enjoyed order and efficiency, she never found her job repetitive or tedious, the way many people in office work did. Or...even if she did, she found comfort in the monotony.

Living in a small town in Southern Iowa, she found that same comfort and safety. Life in a small town was simple. Effortless. There was no traffic to fight. People were friendly. As for Marina, she was the embodiment of the idealized Midwestern girl. She was friendly when necessary, but quiet by nature. And, her voice was pleasant. Her accent wasn't so thick she was not understandable, but anyone from outside the Midwest would recognize the timbre. Every so often though, her voice would slip into a full-fledged drawl.

At the end of each day, she drove the 2 miles home, to a one-story house on a hill that she had been renting for several years. Her three dogs, Otis, Nina, and Darcy, were usually happy to greet her at the door. When the weather was nice she would sit outside on the back patio, in her little swing set, overlooking the railroad tracks that still went through town. They were rarely used anymore, which was good for noise. But, for Marina, when they _were_ used, it was a nice reminder of the way things were 100 years ago, and that luckily, some things don't change.

While not particularly lonely, her solitude left her blessed and cursed with an abundance of free time. On the weekends, she did her shopping and errands. She did all her cooking for the week, leaving her tonly needing to warm up her dinner each night. Even though her weekends were quite busy, her weeknights were less so. She often binged on TV shows or watched a couple of movies on Netflix. She spent most evenings on the couch, enjoying each fictional universe until bedtime.

But, today was not any other day. It was Wednesday. Journey Day.

 _ **Hey folks. So, this is going to be mainly an OC fanfic, but with a Big Bang twist. There may be some Shenny goodness along the way. But, stick with it. Hopefully, you'll enjoy it!**_


	2. Meeting Matty Nice

Matt Santiago, aka Matty Nice, had finished a long day at the studio when he sat down in his office. His Glendale apartment was cramped, but he preferred it to sharing a larger place with roommates. He needed the place to himself to devote to his second career: his life as Matty Nice.

Matt had enjoyed his work on numerous television and movie sets. He had moved out here nine years ago from Alexandria, Virginia. He wanted to be in the entertainment industry. During his nearly decade in Hollywood, he had served as a grip, done construction on film sets, helped out with special effects, and tried his hand at writing a few times. He had worked his way up the ladder with each job, but felt good about where he was. He had been involved in some big ticket productions, but he liked being behind the scenes, with his name not on anything.

Under the name Matty Nice, he started the blog "Talk Nerdy to Me," which had gained a bit of a following, subsequently followed by a Facebook Fan page of the same name. It hadn't exploded, but with 10,000-plus fans and growing, he had a decent fan base. On his blog, he often reviewed TV shows and movies, the ones he hadn't been involved with at least. This gained him cred amongst the critic community, so much so that he was asked to write periodically for the _LA Times_ and _TV Guide_.

Above all, he wanted to keep his anonymity. He didn't want his followers to know his influence on certain projects, and he also wanted to be able to speak with fans candidly, without them thinking they needed to censor themselves. Thus, Matty Nice was born. He had a Facebook account set up under the Matty Nice name, separate from his personal account, as well as Twitter and other social media.

After a couple of years with a growing fan base, at the request of many of his fans, he started a podcast, lovingly titled, "The Journey." During each weekly podcast, he discussed, appropriately, his journey from the East Coast to the West Coast. He talked about previous and current projects of his, leaving out specific details of course. He wanted to give his listeners a real-life understanding of what it's like to work in Hollywood from the ground up. He also talked about current events, sports, and had his friends on occasionally as guests.

Tonight though, it would be just him and his bottle of Sam Adams.

He dug through a stack of papers to find the notes he had written for the podcast. He got his Macbook Pro ready to go, plugged in his headphones, and spoke.

"Hey guys, Matty Nice here, and welcome to The Journey."

 ** _Two hours later_** **:**

"...anyway, I really think you guys are going to be seeing some really great episodes of some of your favorite TV Shows. I'm definitely excited. Well, thanks for listening to me ramble on about my crazy week. To all my new listeners, thanks for joining. Remember, hit me up on Facebook, Twitter, over at the blog, on Youtube, like, subscribe, share. Let me know what you thought about my topics this week. Or, any other questions you have. Look forward to talking to ya."

2,000 miles away, well after midnight, a brunette girl smiled, closed her laptop and placed it on her nightstand, letting her head fall to the pillow below.


	3. Curiosity Kills the Matt?

Like he did every week after the podcast, he jumped on the Facebook page, which was unsurprisingly buzzing with activity. Most of his fans were already starting conversations with other fans, posting questions, and he loved the interactive nature of his following.

He scrolled through the comments, and noticed the absence of one of his regulars: Marina. She was active on the Facebook page, and always had something clever to say throughout the day. He 'liked' a lot of her comments. Truth be told, probably too many. In fact, he had scaled back some of his likes, because he didn't want it to seem like he had a teacher's pet or anything. He had noticed that she rarely, almost never, posted anything during or after the podcast. Did she not have anything to say? Was she not a listener?

He seemed to remember that in one of her previous comments she mentioned something about where she was from. Somewhere out east, if he remembered correctly. Curiosity got the better of him.

Matt scrolled down to a post from earlier that day, and found a comment made by her. He would just see where she was from, that's all. He innocently hovered over her name, bringing up her profile picture, a picture of her dressed up as Buzz Lightyear, a photo that had made him chuckle more than once, and her details...Mt. Pleasant, Iowa.

Iowa?

It wasn't that Matt had anything against the middle of the country, except...he really wasn't a fan of the middle of the country. He grew up in Virginia, went to school in Massachusetts, and after a 6-month stint as an ad salesman back in Virginia, he moved out to California and never looked back. He'd been to Texas once. And, a short weekend in Chicago. In his opinion, middle Americans were just so…plain.

And, Marina did not seem plain. She seemed silly and spunky and a little goofy. Lookswise, she was definitely not like the women he saw on a daily basis. She looked very sweet and although not heavy, didn't have the typical Hollywood body type. She had broad shoulders and muscular legs, and frankly, looked like she could probably beat him up.

How was this girl, this girl with so much humor and life and charisma, from Nowheresville, Iowa? Population: Hahaha.

Despite his clear derision of where she was from, it couldn't stop the intrigued side of him from clicking his mouse to view her full profile.

He viewed three full years of her Facebook life, and was only stopped by some yokel in his building that must have pulled the fire alarm as a prank. He was enamored by her dry wit, charmed by the silly photos and videos that were posted. He learned she was a sports aficionado and loved to bake. Unfortunately, to his chagrin, she didn't share much personal information. He couldn't even tell how old she was. There were no mentions or photos of a significant other; he knew he was officially in trouble when he found his heart in his stomach, holding his breath, as he scrolled from photo to photo, status to status, waiting to find out she had some big lumberjack of a boyfriend, or worse yet...husband.

It was only the aforementioned yokel that was able to break the spell. Once Matt got back to his apartment, after standing outside for the better part of an hour, he was able to go straight to sleep.


	4. TGIT

The morning had flown by for Marina. As she clocked out for lunch, she ran into one of her coworkers, DeAnn.

"Hey, friend!"

Marina visibly jumped from the volume with which DeAnn had shouted. "Hey, Dee."

"Halfway through Thursday, isn't it great? Any big plans for the weekend?"

"Not really. The usual," she admitted.

DeAnn suddenly seemed annoyed. "Hey, are you ever going to accept my friend request? You're the only one in the department who hasn't."

"I told you, Dee, I like to keep my work and private life separate. I'm not Facebook friends with anyone here. Please, don't take it personal."

The other woman let out a huff. "Well, it's no big deal. I just don't know why you have to act so weird about it."

Marina ignored her as she walked out the door. "I'm going to lunch, now. Bye!"

* * *

As she walked to the library, her usual lunchtime haunt, she pulled out her iPhone and pulled up the TNTM Facebook group. She read a few of the posts, and laughed at some of the crazy conversations that were ensuing.

Once she arrived to the library, however, she settled into a comfy chair, picking up a copy of _East of Eden_.

After three chapters, she put the book down and logged onto one of the library's computers, going to the group Facebook page to participate in some of the banter that was going on.

Two of her fellow regulars, Toby and Alice were going back and forth on who from the Mighty Ducks would win one-on-one: Banksy or Charlie. Toby argued that in a one-on-one situation, it takes grit and tenacity, which Charlie had more of. Alice's contention was that Adam Banks was always more talented. And, most of the time, talent trumps grit.

Most of the respondents sided with Toby. But, Marina felt compelled to type in:

 **Sorry, boys. Alice is right. 1 out of 10 times, Charlie might be able to triple deke his way past Banksy; But Banks is cool, calm, steady. And, he's just better. There are no flaws Charlie can exploit.**

She poked around on some other posts before coming across, in all caps:

 _ANYONE WATCHING BIG BANG TONIGHT?_

Marina almost responded, but she knew as a fan, that the _Big Bang Theory_ fandom was, in a word, crazy. In another word, intense. She knew that her opinions on the series weren't popular ones. So, rather than get into an argument where she would be largely outnumbered, she froze her fingers and backed off on this one.

Once upon a time, Marina had enjoyed _The Big Bang Theory_. As the seasons went on, though, she found her love waning. When Sheldon was your favorite character and Penny a close second, seeing their evolution...or de-evolution more precisely...it made it hard to watch.

The Type A in her loved Sheldon. He lived for routine. He lived for order and his career and science. Sheldon always made her feel as if she wasn't so strange after all. He was as crazy as she was, more so probably, and it was okay. As Sheldon's character began to change, she felt less and less normal. Was she supposed to be evolving too? What happened to the guy she related to so closely? People mature, and they grow, and she knew that. But, this one time, she craved the stability and balance of vintage Sheldon over character development.

Penny's regression was even worse. When the series began, she felt an extremely close kinship with Penny. Penny was from Nebraska, a Midwestern girl to the core. She had the inherent sweetness and yet strong defiance. Marina related deeply to Penny. She certainly wasn't blonde or as tall or as thin. But, Penny's infamous "corn-fed vigor" was something she took pride in as a Midwesterner. In the beginning, she was so wide-eyed and hopeful and bubbly.

Penny's deterioration into a depressing shell of her former self bothered Marina greatly. She knew that it was supposed to show the decline of Penny's spirit after being rejected in the entertainment industry and how after failing at her dream for so many years, how it had taken a toll on her. She knew all this, and it still made her sad to see this happy-go-lucky girl she once loved devolve into a bitter wino.

She knew, however, that she was in the minority. Many of her friends loved _The Big Bang Theory_ and the way the show had changed. She had tiptoed onto _Big Bang_ Facebook posts and message boards and been shouted down by the NuSheldon brigade. She had learned to keep her opinions to herself.

But, this group was different. Maybe there were some folks out there that agreed with her? Her fingers hovered over the keyboard, ready to speak, er type, her mind.

At that exact moment, her phone buzzed. A text from her mother.

 _Hey, sweetie. Your cousin Beth will be coming home for Christmas. Can you make your famous whoopie pies? I know she loves them. xo Mom_

The text disrupted her thoughts just long enough to change her mind about posting. She logged off Facebook, shut down the Firefox browser, grabbed her purse, and left the library for the short walk back to the office.


	5. Sage Advice

Matt walked into the studio that he had come to know for the past three years. It was hard to explain to entertainment neophytes, but Hollywood really _was_ a small town. People like him didn't have one job. They had twenty, with different shows and films and studios. You found yourself working with and running into a lot of the same people.

He had been here though for three years, floating to other sets and shows during the off-season and on weekends; moonlighting as a blogger. Three years was an eternity for him, though. He liked short projects. One year things here and there that he can check off his list and move on to the next challenge.

This gig was different; the folks in charge really respected him and gave him the opportunity to try his hat at different things. He also enjoyed interacting with real-life people and getting their reactions, much like he did on his Facebook page.

For the past few weeks, he had been working as an assistant stage manager. He sat in on the read-through, and helped during the walk through and final taping. A couple of times, Gary, the official stage manager had been called away during the walk through, and he had been asked to step in.

Unfortunately, he was kept far, far away from the creative process. Things like the script, actor direction, general direction of the show, was kept very much under wraps, and very much on a selective need-to-know basis. He had reservations about certain acting choices and scenes on the final product. He definitely was in-tune with the critiques of the progress of the show over the seasons, not only from the audience but also the actors themselves. (Off the record, of course)

But, Matt was proud to even be on the team of the most successful comedy on television.

After a productive morning session, he knocked on the door of one of his regular stops.

"Come in!" came a garbled voice.

Matt smiled at the star adorning the door with the name KALEY CUOCO-SWEETING on it. Someone, Kaley herself he presumed, had covered the last part with a piece of paper.

He opened the door, and saw Kaley and Melissa Rauch chowing down on some lunch. Kaley was shoving french fries in her mouth. Melissa was eating what looked like an Asian salad of some sort.

Kaley swallowed her bite and washed down a swig of iced tea. "Hey Matt! You hungry? I can share some fries."

He held up his hands in deflection. "No, that's okay."

Melissa pleasantly patted next to her. "Have a seat." He obeyed.

With a limited number of cast and crew, it had given him a chance to get to know everyone, even the talents themselves. Sadly, toward the end of Kaley's marriage, she had sought his comfort and advice on the situation, and their friendship had blossomed from there.

"Can I ask you ladies a question?"

"Sure," they both responded.

"You guys are both California girls. You like it here, right?"

"Born and raised!" affirmed Kaley.

"A transplant from out east but yes," said the other blonde.

"Out east?"

"New Jersey."

"Oh...sure," Matt replied. "Mel, you're married, so I am going to leave you out of this for now."

He turned to Kaley.

"If you were to meet, let's say on a plane or at one of your equestrian competitions, a guy. From some podunk state- Kansas or Indiana or...Iowa- but you had a connection with them, would you consider it?"

She narrowed her eyes at him. "What is this about? Are you trying to set me up?" she accused.

"No, no, not at all!"

"Well, then?"

" _Well_ , then?" he countered.

"Probably...not." she shrugged. "Ryan came out here to visit, and he moved here for me, well amongst other things, but LA was never his scene. He never really liked it here, and he never fit in."

She continued on. "Expecting, _hoping_ that someone will move out here and enjoy it and want to build their life here, and not regret it at all...sure, it may happen sometimes, but eventually, it will come to a point where it just doesn't work"

"But, I thought, when it's true love, it doesn't matter where you are. As long as you are together?" he asked satirically.

"Dream the dream, buddy," Kaley replied as she dug into her cheeseburger.

Melissa reached over and touched his arm sweetly. "Hey, what is it?"

Matt rolled his eyes in defeat. "There's…" he paused to come up with the correct wording.

"A girl," the petite actress said knowingly.

"There's a girl!" Kaley spit out half her food, while pointing accusingly at him.

"No, no. There's no girl. We've never even spoken."

After swallowing, Kaley smirked. "How can you have never spoken if there's 'no girl' to speak to?"

He decided to stretch the truth a bit. "Okay, fine! She's a friend of a friend on Facebook. But, she's from far away, and I don't know how to properly introduce myself, other than message her, which may make me seem like a creep. She could be married for all I know!"

"Nope," Melissa interjected.

"Nope?"

"No, there is another way to introduce yourself, if you want to do it formally."

"Go ahead."

"Fly out, or drive, to whatever farmland place she is from. Ask someone at the corner store, the courthouse, the local minister. Look her up in the White Pages. Whatever. Track her down. Then, show up to her front door with a big bouquet of roses. That's the way to do it if you want to be proper."

Matt's eyes were huge. "Are you _insane_? Please tell me you're not serious."

"Of course I'm not serious!" Melissa screeched. "But, that would have definitely made you seem like a creep. A thousand times creepier. Doesn't a little old message seem like a piece of cake now?"

He hesitated.

Kaley interjected. "Does your friend know her? Maybe they can give you the deets."

Matt stammered, "Well...um...it's more of an acquaintance really...we've only spoken a couple of times. And, he's really quite busy. I'd hate to bother him...she's probably a real piece of work anyway...I don't know."

"The way I look at it," the blonde pointed a french fry at him, "you have three options. Mel's grand, crazy gesture. Believe it's fate and that God will somehow, somewhere drop her in your lap when you least expect it. Or, send her a message on Facebook."

He knew they were right. But, his machismo got the better of him. He kicked his legs up on the table, folded his hands behind his neck, and slumped back casually. "Then again, I could get tail six days a week, and twice on Sundays, so I don't know why I would work so hard on this one girl."

Matt caught the annoyed look Kaley and Melissa exchanged, but he kept a straight face. The truth was, they were right. And, the truth was, he wasn't sure what to do with this minor fascination with the mysterious Marina from Iowa.


	6. Empty

After a particularly boring Thursday at work a couple weeks later, Marina returned home and began to laze away on the couch with Darcy. She flipped through the channels and settled on a cheesy Lifetime movie of the week.

Every so often, she appreciated the good ol' Lifetime movies for what they were: simple, straight-forward stories. The acting was so-so. The plot was usually out of an eighth-grade classroom. And, you could see the way the movie would turn out a mile away. But, sometimes you don't need _Citizen Kane_. You don't need _The Sopranos_. Sometimes, you just need predictable.

And today, Marina did.

This exact day, she was in a mood. A rut, some people may say. Nothing monumental happened at work. Nothing life-shattering or life-affirming was hanging in the balance. She just felt…a little empty. This wasn't all that unusual. She got this way sometimes, maybe once or twice a year. She just needed a little cheesy entertainment and a bowl of M&Ms to snap her out of it.

Today, though, was a little different. Instead of groaning at the bad dialogue or giggling at the useless plot points, she felt herself getting emotional. She felt lost in the sea of her own life. She felt…lonely.

* * *

Marina was at a point in her life where, she loved her friends, but, they were all married with families. They couldn't just hang out at a moment's notice. They couldn't meet up for dinner and drinks just for fun. Sure, they invited her over every so often, she wondered if out of pity, but rarely did she accept. She loved her friends, and she loved their kids, but being around them made her feel like an old maid, the weird spinster everyone worries about. But, more than that, it made her feel alone. She saw all that she wanted out of life, and all she feared she would never have.

She had considered getting out of this town, moving to a big city: Des Moines, or even (gasp) Chicago. Maybe if she went somewhere with a vibrant singles scene, a booming nightlife, that would give her more opportunities to interact with people. But, the big city just wasn't who she was. She was a small-town girl. Always had been, always would be.

After devouring who-knows-how-many M&M's, she went to her bedroom and plopped on the bed. Darcy followed her, and Otis and Nina were already there waiting on her. She pulled her notebook onto her lap and popped it open.

She decided to check out the TNTM blog to see if there were any new articles up, and then decided to head on over to the Facebook page to see around what the most recent conversation was circulating. No new news really, but the folks on the FB page were having a lively chat about which Disney Channel classic sitcom was better: _Lizzie McGuire_ or _Even Stevens_.

She was personally Team _Even Stevens_ , but fully acknowledged that both were excellent shows in their own way. She followed along for several minutes, when a private message popped up. It was from Matty Nice himself.

 **MN:** Hi!

Marina blinked rapidly. Of course she knew who he was. She just didn't know why he'd be messaging **her**. He had liked and commented on a few of her posts here and there. But, it wasn't like they had ever had full conversations before or were FB friends or anything. Obviously, he had thousands of fans and listeners, so she wasn't sure how many of them he really knew or was in contact with. It seemed like a very random message.

 **MF:** Hello.

 **MN:** I know we've never talked, but just wanted to give you a buzz. Wanted to thank you for being so involved on the page.

 **MF:** No problem! Thank YOU for giving all us nerds a place to go and gab.

 **MN:** Pleasure is all mine, I have the best fans in the world.

 **MF:** Thanks. Are you messaging all your fans to thank them? Seems that may take a while.

 **MN:** Nah, just the cool ones.

Marina half-smiled and shook her head.


End file.
